Experience #18 Painting and the Perfectionist



I’ll admit, my list of experiences was put on hold the last month as I attempted to buy a house and to be a good college student (now however, I’m only trying to survive and finish). Painting was on my original list of thirty-three, and a fellow teacher invited me to attend a party at Painting with a Twist. She even made mention of me adding it to my list because of course, no one has seen the completed list. Her invitation served as a reminder that I’m only half through my list, and the year will not wait for me to accomplish my list before it comes to that rapid finale.



Donna "Lucy" and I showing off our finished paintings
 at Painting with a twist.



So Wednesday afternoon I found myself having a painting lesson at Painting with a Twist. Teacher friend had chosen the St. Louis Cathedral with azaleas as her painting.

The display painting was a beautiful painting, but as I stared at it waiting for the class to begin, I thought there was no way that it was going to happen on my partially outlined, colorless canvas.

After thirty minutes of painting, listening to directions, and attempting to make my painting look like the display, I gave up on that lofty ideal and decided to make it look like it wasn’t painted by a kindergartener.

Best friend “Lucy” was no help on that level. She encouraged failure with the tip that I could tell everyone that I was attempting to make it look like my six-year old had painted it. Have to love her.

Somewhere in the middle of it, after I stopped listening to painting directions and began to consider the painting itself as an imperfect representation, painting actually became relaxing. I’m an admitted perfectionist, and I won’t usually try things like this because I know it won’t meet my perfect ideal. But somewhere around attempting to do two-toned azaleas and making a mess of the grass, I stopped caring that it wasn’t perfect.

All in all, I enjoyed painting. I have a feeling I will not want to see a paint brush for a very long time after I finish painting inside the house I mentioned earlier. But the experience was a much needed one at this moment in my life.

I planned to hang the painting in a deep, dark closet, but my daughter loves the painting and has asked to hang it in her new room. What can I say? She’s six and doesn’t understand yet that the lines are supposed to be straight. Of course, she also informed me that I should have taken her to the class because she is the one who wants to learn how to paint. I may be holding a paint brush sooner than I’d like. I believe I need to choose something abstract next time, without any lines that I’m expected to get straight.

My finished painting. If you don't look too closely,
 it will look decent.